Background: Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) has been used to detect deletions and mutations of the α-globin gene for diagnosis of α-thalassemia. MLPA reaction products are usually separated and analyzed by high-voltage capillary gel electrophoresis (CGE). The goal of this study was to find and use a cost-effective method to separate and analyze MLPA products.
Methods: Blood samples were collected from China. DNA was extracted and amplified by PCR using fluorescently labeled primers. In this study, denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) was used to separate and analyze the reaction products. And the optimal separation conditions were determined using nondenaturing columntemperature.
Results: The DHPLC conditions were optimized and have been applied to separate MLPA products and 27 of the MLPA products from 50 to 320 bp were well separated. DHPLC was able to separate up to 37 reaction products that differed by 4-12 base pairs and detected target gene deletions by differences in peak size. Compared with CGE, both the specificity and sensitivity of DHPLC for the 107 DNA samples were 100%.
Conclusions: DHPLC could be used to test routinely for α-globin gene mutations and deletions. Combined with MLPA, DHPLC is a low-cost, simple to use, accurate technique with practical value.
© 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.